


Sleepover

by Bleck



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Trans Character, autistic tobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 17:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11212563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleck/pseuds/Bleck
Summary: Rachel sleeps over at Tobias' house. AU where Tobias isn't a nothlit.





	Sleepover

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, I was drunk while writing this so any mistakes can be blamed on that.

"Rachel!" Jordan called.

"What?" I shouted. I was doing homework, I didn't have time to entertain my little sister.

"You've got a phone call!"

It was nine o'clock. That meant one thing: the Yeerks were up to something.

The yeerks being aliens that are trying to secretly invade the earth. I'm one of six people doing something about it.

I rushed down the stairs into the living room. Jordan gave me a funny look but I ignored her and she went back to watching tv.

"Hello?" I asked. 

"Rachel?"

"Tobias? Hey. What's wrong?" On one hand, it wasn't aliens. On the other hand, it was almost just as bad.

"C-could you come over? Please?" They pleaded. Pleaded. Tobias didn't do that.

"I'll be right there." I whispered before I hung up. "Jordan, go to bed in half an hour. I've got homework so don't bother me." She scowled but mom was already asleep so someone had to tell her to go to bed. Running back upstairs, I locked the door the second I got it closed. Then I threw my clothes off and began to morph. Night flying called for one bird. The owl.

The first thing to change was my height, I shrunk and fell without falling. It wasn't that bad because I was morphing a great horned owl instead of a cockroach. As I fell, my bones began to scrape and slide together. It didn't hurt but it sounded like it should. None of us would be able to morph if it hurt like it sounded. I heard my organs melt and became owl organs as my bones finished becoming owl bones. My feet toughened to become talons. Eight inches spread out and able to exert 300 pounds of pressure per square inch. Deadly. Finally, the feathers came. They started out as outlined of feathers before sprouting out of my skin. It was actually pretty cool. With those done, I was fully owl. I flew out my window on almost silent wings.

If I had to rip out an eyeball in the dead of night, this could do it. And if Tobias was calling me this late at night to come over it meant one thing. Their uncle was being violent. I had told Tobias that they had to call me if it happened again, made them promise. It had been a month since I gave them my number. In the month they had my number, I had been over twice. This time was different, they sounded really upset. Usually Tobias was way too blasé about what they went through. I couldn't imagine what their uncle was up to now. But I knew what I could do about it. An owl might be scary flying at you with talons spread but just seeing a grizzly bear stand up, almost eight feet tall with five four inch long knives on each hand, was something entirely different.

I made my way far across town, from the nice side to the worst part of the bad. It probably took twenty minutes by car without traffic, maybe half an hour with. A great horned owl flies at 40 miles per hour and it had taken me fifteen minutes before. I got there in ten tonight. Tobias had their window open and I flew right in. I landed on their headboard. Dude was freaking out in his cat carrier but we ignored him.

<Human or grizzly?> I asked. Technically I would have to be human to be able to morph the grizzly but if Tobias needed me as a grizzly, I bet my life I would be able to do it faster than Cassie.

"Human's ok. He isn't here anymore." Tobias muttered.

I landed on their floor and began to demorph. Tobias watched even though it was gross. When I was fully human again, I crawled into bed with Tobias. "What happened?" I asked. Tobias sighed and laid their head on my shoulder. It gave me the opportunity to actually look at them. They were a mess.

Their makeup was a mess from furiously wiping at it but not actually wiping it off. The skirt was the only part of their outfit that was fine. One of their thigh highs were torn and so was the tank top. Both were brand new. Tobias didn't do that.

"You came out." I said. It wasn't a question. 

Tobias nodded against my neck. "Yea." Before they spoke, I didn't understood what someone's voice being strangled meant. I figured it out.

"Is he here?"

"No. He freaked out and left. Probably to a bar. I locked the door in case he comes home tonight. He probably won't though. He was already drunk and angry so he's probably going to get arrested again." Tobias said, almost like it was totally normal.

"You can always come to my room if you want to. Doesn't even have to be as a bird if you don't want to leave Dude. And you don't have to worry about your uncle barging in here. At least not tonight. If he so much as looks at you while I'm here, I'll rip his arms off." I said. I wasn't kidding.

"You don't really need to do that." 

"This isn't the first time he hurt you. He deserves it."

"Maybe." Tobias shrugged. "But you don't have to be the one to do that. You shouldn't have to." 

"What can I do? I can't just continue to sit around and do nothing, Tobias. I can't." It was driving me up a wall. Since the very first time they mentioned their uncle or their aunt, I knew they were being abused. It was awful for so many reasons. Sometimes Tobias didn't even recognize something as abuse until we pointed it out. Even when they did, they shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal.

"How long can you stay?" They asked.

"All night." I said without missing a beat.

"We have school in the morning." 

"Not if we don't want to."

"Your family would notice."

"I'll get back early and say I'm sick. It'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. What can I do now that I'm here all night?"

"Just stay here with me and cuddle." The cheek I could see got pink.

"I'd love to cuddle all night. That sounds nice. Is that all though?" I'd been looking forward to spending the night with Tobias and while being called over because they were afraid of their uncle sucked, at least this might help them feel better.

"Could you let Dude out so he can join if he wants?"

"Sure." I said with a smile. I hadn't really interacted with their cat before since I had only stayed for an hour or so the last two times I was here and he spent his time in the cat carrier because morphing freaks animals out. They talked about Dude a lot though, it was cute. Tobias obviously loved him.

I nudged Tobias so I could get up. They moved and I gave them a peck on the forehead, they kissed my cheek in response. When I squatted down in front of Dude, I could tell he was wary. I wasn't a cat expert or anything but I had been a cat before and it looked like he could either attack me or chill out pretty quickly. Just to be safe, when I unlocked the door I was off to the side.

Dude burst out and was in Tobias' lap as quick as he could move. Since he was both a cat and totally freaked, it was pretty freakin' quick. Tobias immediately began to pet him.

"You should get dressed. And take off your make up." I suggested. "I can help with your makeup if you want." I had no idea if they had actual makeup wipes or not yet. We had been pressed for time when we were buying the actual makeup.

"I don't mind if you want to. I sort of tried earlier but..." They trailed off. It was pretty obvious they had just rubbed at it because they had been upset.

"Do you have makeup wipes?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so. Not unless you bought some."

"Alright, lead me to your bathroom." I said.

Tobias bit their lip and looked at their bedroom door then back at me.

"If he shows up, I promise you he won't get anywhere near you. Secrecy be damned. Hell, I hope he's a Controller and sees me morph." I swore to them. They knew what that meant. It gave me an even bigger reason to kill him. Not that he hadn't earned death already. The only reason Ax hasn't killed him already was because Tobias told them not to. And Tobias hadn't even told anyone that they called me over because their uncle had been physically violent. "It'll be ok."

"Ok." Tobias said. I wasn't sure if they believed me or not.

She lead me down the hall to the bathroom. I was honestly surprised when she pulled paper towel and regular wipes out from under the sink. They just didn't seem like the type of thing a drunk who didn't care about their...whatever the gender neutral term for niece or nephew was would buy. Was there a term? I had no idea. I grabbed a wipe and wiped off the rest of the makeup still on their face; I dried their face off with one of the paper towels afterwards.

Quickly, just in case their uncle had come home and we hadn't noticed, we walked back to their bedroom. Dude looked at us but he didn't move from Tobias's preferred side of the bed. Tobias grabbed a pair of pajamas from their dresser. It was impossible to not notice they were Star Trek. They were yellow. I didn't know what that meant. There were too many colors to keep track off. The show was weird. Not that I was going to say that right now. I turned around while they got dressed. Just because we were dating didn't mean they were totally comfortable being naked around me yet. That was ok. We still did stuff.

"You can turn around now." Tobias said.

I turned around and smiled at them. "You're cute, you know that?"

They blushed. "You're way cuter. Like, wow. People say it all the time but you're beautiful. And amazing." Tobias said as they laid down on their bed, almost right on top of Dude. He didn't seem to mind his owner's weight. Not that Tobias weighed very much.

"Thanks. It means more coming from you." I told them. It really did. It's one thing knowing you look good but it's another thing when the person you like says it. I locked their door then I gently pushed them over so I wouldn't be falling off the bed when I spooned them. 

"Really?" They asked.

"Yea. I bet it means more if I tell you that you're pretty or amazing or smart or strong or talented or wonderful." I put an arm over their chest and stroked Dude's fur.

Tobias squirmed. They really weren't used to being complimented. 

"Can I continue?" I asked.

"Continue what?"

"Complimenting you like you deserve."

"I thought you wanted to do normal girl stuff. Like rest your head on my shoulder when we watched a movie and all that." They said.

"I do. But complimenting you counts as normal girl stuff if we're both girls. Or, a girl and someone who is closer to being a girl than a boy."

"If you want to." Tobias speak for yes, I really want you to.

"Gladly. You're adorable in general. Especially when you're nerding out over Star Trek or Doctor Who. Even if it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, it's still cute to see you all excited. You're especially cute when you start flapping your hands or snapping when you talk about dinosaurs or tv or Dude. You're a really talented artist and I love to watch you while you draw. I should really take a picture because you look amazing. It's cute that you're short enough that I can spoon you and my head rests on yours and my knees fit against the back of yours."

"It's fun to go flying but even better when you're with me. I get a little uncomfortable with how often you spend in morph but as long as you don't go over on purpose, it'll be ok. It would be hard to date a bird. We'd make it work if we had to though. I'm sure of it. It makes me smile that you're so romantic. The flowers on my desk were nice. I have no idea how you got a vase full of flowers in my room but I really appreciated it. You're romantic and charming and I can't get enough of it. I can't get enough of you."

"We should go to bed." Tobias said.

"Too much?" I asked, concerned. I didn't want to make them uncomfortable even if I had been totally sincere.

"Not in a bad way. It was a lot but it was really nice. Thank you, Rachel." They said. They punctuated it with a kiss to my fingertips. "But I am tired. Today was miserable. But having you here has really helped. It'd be nice to have an apartment together." 

"That sounds great."

"Mhm." Tobias cuddled against my chest. Just when I thought they couldn't get cuter.

"Going to bed sounds like a good idea. Don't worry, I'll be here all night." 

I had no idea if any of the nightmares we all had would come up but I hoped me being here would help. Maybe being with them would help mine. I hoped so.

"Thank you, Rachel. I love you."

"I love you to." 


End file.
